A huge water furnace in the Sao Paolo Expoexternal link pavilion, submerged to reduce energy consumption, projects water from depths of 400m into circulating pipe streams – and provides energy too
The Expo 2020 pavilion was designed by Brazilian architects Luís Freitas and Jose Leão, from the Saltz, Intayal and Cosad consultancy with help from Jorge Heredia of the Pardonque and Ferref studio.
The enormous water-fuelled mechanical machine generates steam that propels water energy from deep sea depths through a series of filtration and clean-up stations. The mechanism also turns into water-sipping machines that can be fitted with long strings of switches to control energy consumption and life energy consumption.
The structure is the first time a pavilion has installed its own water supply. The fountain features 23m-high waterslides and 5m-high sail-like sails, which together will generate 10,000 litres of water every 10 minutes. The European Renewable Energy Agency (EEA) estimates that this could add up to 38 million litres of water a day.
This article was originally published in French in Le Monde.
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